Currently functionality in Apex Code is basically limited to the equivalent of the Enterprise WSAPI. Please add full support for meta-data access (similar to the Partner WSAPI) to Apex Code.

The base features needed are:

1) Ability to get and set field values from an sOjbect by using a variable and without having to strongly type the sObject to a full SFDC object type. i.e.:

sObject object = new sObject( "Custom_Object_Type__c" );
String fieldName = "Custom_Field__c";
object[fieldName] = "sample value";

2) DescribeSobject calls.

3) Dynamic SOQL that can be defined via variables. Preferably the whole SOQL call should be a simple string so it can be built dynamically in code.

4) Adding "SELECT * FROM Table" syntax would also be nice, but not really necessary if #3 is in place.